China, I thought, preferred to keep visitors out; many Southeast Asian countries invited foreigners in, with ambiguous wink and smile; Japan smilingly greeted visitors at the door and appeared to admit them without ever really doing so. India, by contrast, took in all the hordes and simply swept them up in the undifferentiated tide.

-Pico Iyer, Video Night in Kathmandu, p 281

Urumqi

The city is ultra-modern with all the parks, skyscrapers, and transportation similar sized Chinese cities have. It’s always cool to be in places where signs have to be written in two or more languages, and in Urumqi its Chinese and Uighur. Uighur is in an entirely different linguistic family as Chinese and looks like this:

ھەممە ئادەم زاتىدىنلا ئەركىن، ئىززەت-ھۆرمەت ۋە ھوقۇقتا بابباراۋەر بولۇپ تۇغۇلغان. ئۇلار ئەقىلغە ۋە ۋىجدانغا ئىگە ھەمدە بىر-بىرىگە قېرىنداشلىق مۇناسىۋىتىگە خاس روھ بىلەن مۇئامىلە قىلىشى كېرەك

The city lies in the gigantic (bigger than Alaska) sparse province of Xinjiang, meaning “New Frontier.” The history is rich with Silk Road routes and nearly 50 ethnic minorities lending a feel I’m in another country than China.

There are few travelers in the province but I’ve found some in the only youth hostel in this city. I’ve seen more adventurous Chinese and other Asians than anyone, the travelers being decked out with rain gear and backpacks sporting labels like North Face and Mountain Hardware. The Westerners I’ve seen tend to be more rugged than the usual South East Asia first-time wonder-struck kids you see elsewhere in Asia. The guys have beards of some rapport and the girls have no shame drying their underwear in the hallway. They’ve been around, some coming across from Europe and tend to keep their heads down and not say much. We’ve been through the “Where are you from?” routine too many times and know the road goes on.

Even so, I met a nice group of people and we went to a hot pot restaurant. This delicious dish is a Chinese staple (similar to Japanese nabe) and for some reason I have yet to sample it in my time in China. I think part of the reason is eating this seems to be a very communal activity, and I’m usually alone.

In the center of the table is a large pot, divided in two parts, on a burner. One side is spicy broth and the other plain. You peruse a large wall of skewered vegees and meets to bring back to the table and stick them into the pots to be cooked. Not for chopstick beginners.

You pay by the amount of skewers you eat, and six of us ate 152 sticks of food, though pricier items like shrimps have more than one skewer. Including beer and a couple plates of meat to throw in, we each payed 26 RMB (~US$3.80). Super good since it is quite chilly here and I saw the first snow of the year the day I arrived, signaling an end to some of the markets.

The breads (pan) here are also cheap and delicious. You can get bagels and plate-sized sesame covered breads for one or two RMB and they make great resting places for kebabs.

The main thing I wanted to see in Urumqi is it’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region Museum, a newly renovated attraction for “Silk Road aficionados” (LP China). Sounds good. The only problem was navigating the draconian entrance requirements: closed Mondays (first day here), ticket dispensing times, entrance times, and limits on how many can enter. I felt like I was trying to see the Tonight Show and not some 4,000 year old mummies. Finally, Wednesday I got in but had to change my bus ticket to a day later to see it. To my surprise entrance is free!

Xinjiang Autonomous Region Museum

The museum was well done with exhibits following the history of the Silk Road, ethnic minorities in the region, carpets styles, and the main attraction: mummies!

The desert mummified Caucasoid bodies include the famous Loulan Beauty. The 45 year-old’s face has been reconstructed from her remains, and she is (was!) considered quite attractive. The several on display and other Tarim Basin mummies are valued for their amazing state of preservation due to the desert conditions. Braids of hair, teeth, and clothing lie in remarkable condition for being up to 4,000 years old. No photos allowed but I managed to get a couple anyway. The light was very dark so the Loulan Beauty is blurry with a tripod.

Loulan Beauty

From AD 366, traders, merchants, and officials patroned the building and painting of religious caves for the next 1000 years. The area is particulary interesting as it lies in a crossroads of different cultures. Peoples from all over Asia and Europe meshed here and some depicitions have clear Tibetan, Chinese, Indian, and even Greek influence.

In Mongolia I had a few days repast waiting for the train and I ripped through 4 or 5 books, inluding Peter Kopkirk’s Foreign Devils on the Silk Road. The book describes in vivid detail how the caves lay dormat for about a 1000 years, bricked off or filled by the sands of the Taklamakan Desert that also ate many towns along the Silk Road after it’s decline.

For the first quarter of the 20th Century, several groups of European, Japanese, and American adventurers and archieologists (notably Aurel Stein and Paul Pelliot) took notice of the vast Central Asian area and its trove of history. They followed in one of the world’s greatest explorers footsteps, Sven Hedin. They came in force and dug up cities lost to the desert to find frescoes, statues, and manuscripts from a chapter in history long forgotten.

Paul Pelliot Sorting Manuscripts in the Library Cave

They hauled thousands of relics back to their sponsoring organizations. Their methods were often destructive, sometimes sawing off huge chunks of frescoes. China considers this a dark period and the items stolen. Counter to this is the fact local people were burning the precious items as a source of scare wood and the vast destruction of religious items during the Cultural Revolution. Some items were also destroyed in WWII bombing in Europe.

Even so, perhaps the greatest trove lies in the Magao Caves, 28 km from Dunhuang. In three sperate caves lie Buddha statues of over 30 meters, two sitting and one reclining. The frescoes are in various states of decay, some areas peeling away to show three layers of paintings covering different Chinese dynasties. Many statues still display vivid color.

The Chinese governement has poured a lot of resources into the maintainence and restoration of the caves. Entrance is strictly regulated and bears a high entrance fee of 160 RMB, plus 20 RMB for foreign language guides. Visitors are taken conveyor belt stlye and shown 8 – 10 caves. No photos are allowed, except from the outside.

Magao Caves

One of the most interesting is Cave 17, called the Library Cave. A self-appointed curator of the caves, Wang Yuanlu, discovered the small cave inside number 16 behind a false wall of fresco containg many thousands of ancient manuscrips in many languages, including some ancient unknown Central Asia languages such as Khotanese. Inside lay editions of classic Buddist texts by the most famous caligraphers and the oldest printed book known, The Diamond Sutra. The Europeans gained Wang’s trust and bought thousands of them for miniscule sums before China slammed the door shut.

Bible in Syriac

I had great interest in the site after reading the aforementioned book. It’s one of the highlights of the Northern Silk Road. The site is well maintained and has a nice International Research Project Building where 8 caves have been nicely reproduced (though half were closed) in addition to many relics. I found it extremely interesting but had a few reservations.

Cave Reproductions

The price is extremely high (highest I have paid for any entrance), having been increased from 100 RMB in the last year. For that price, I wanted to see more caves and have a better tour guide. She was knowlegable enough, but spoke hurried, making it a bit hard to understand, and moved me right along. It was only her and I, and I don’t think I saw as many caves as a larger group though I had great interest in the site. I did not come away disappointed, though I overheard other foreigners express as much later on.

More information about the caves can be found at the International Dunhuang Project.

The caves are located about 28 km from the city of Dunhuang. Halfway in between them is the train station. I found a sleeper available that evening for Urumqi, so just made a day of the caves and moved on.

Both the train ticket and admission were higher than expected, leaving me short of money before I could get to a bank to change more (plus it was Sunday).

Luckily, I met perhaps the nicest people of my stay in China; a couple from Urumqi visiting for the weekend. I arrived with 3 hours to kill at the station and found them camped by a foodstall passing time. None of us spoke the other’s language, but we got on well. They ushured me up to some hidden room with beds to chill out before the train, and gave me tangerines, bananas, water, and bought me a bowl of delicious noodles and a beer. Amazing, considering I didn’t have enough money to properly eat.

I checked their seat assignment (we had the same train) and found them later with a meeger offering of a couple of beers. They further supplied me with more fruit and snacks of spicy chicken toes and some kind of spicy hardboiled bird egg (yes, Chinese foods are crazy).

By the time I reached a bank in Urumqi, I had 4.3 RMB left (~US.50), so it worked out perfectly!

Wuta Pagoda

Via Lanzhou I took a couple days to explore Xiahe, a Tibetan town home to the leading monastery outside of Lhasa and home to over 1200 monks. The Labrang Monastery is one of the “big 6″ of the Gelugpa “Yellow Hat” sect of Buddhism.

Xiahe

Unbeknownst to me, this town has been off limits for foreigners until recently because of protests that took place in March and I had to be among the first to visit. China severly limited access to Tibetan areas in the buildup to the Olypmics much to my dismay.

I walked the 3 km kora (pilgrim route) around the monastery and peeked in on chanting and meditation sessions. Prostrating brightly dressed pilgrims were abundant walking the route and spinning prayer wheels.

One of the workers at my hostel took me to meet his friends at the local watering hole. Interesting evening of singing, dancing, and what converstation we could manage. The Tibetans proceded to tell me how badly China is treating them, pantoming hitting each on the head and cocking guns.

The next series of bus rides was long and uncomfortable but scenic. One leg I shared a seat next to a rather wide monk and I think we were the biggest on the cramped bus. I had time to step off at Zhangye, where Marco Polo stayed a year to write, and see the world’s largest reclining Buddha at 35 meters long:

I arrived finally to Jiayuguan (at the recommendation from some Chinese on the train out of Ulaanbaatar). This city is a major destination on the Silk Road and the start of what I’ll consider my Silk Road leg.

The Silk Road is more accuratley the Silk Routes and were “important paths for cultural and technological transmission by linking traders, merchants, pilgrims, monks, soldiers, nomads and urban dwellers from China to the Mediterranean Sea for thousands of years.” The routes stretched from Turkey to the then Chinese capital in present day Xi’an. My route will take the branch down through Pakistan to India.

The fort here is effectively the western most stronghold of the Chinese Silk Road and guards a pass between the snow-capped Qilian Shan mountains and the Hei Shan “Black Mountians.” Its the start of the Great Wall in the west and also known as the “First and Greatest Pass Under Heaven.” It was built in 1372 Ming Dynasty.

Jiayuguan Fort

Marco Polo traveled this way and described this outpost. Quite excited for this leg since I have an interest in the history here. Its easy to feel as if you are a traveler of old. With that I’ll leave you with this gem:

Thou shalt not pass

And now gratuitous Great Wall pics:

The Geat Wall

Picked up my train tickets to Mongolia and leave tomorrow!

Packed Xi'an Train Station

Beijing is nice, clean, and easy to get around in. The Para-Olympics are going on and there are info booths everywhere to ask directions. Flowers and newly painted buildings add to the very relaxed attitudes of the Beijing-ites. Where most larger cities I’ve found to be a swarming bustle with people yelling about who knows what, the locals here slowly walk their little dogs or sit outside playing Chinese Chess.

Paraolympics

Tian’anmen Square and the Forbidden City are amazing. The Tian’anmen Gate, or Gate of Heavenly Peace, sports the famous public portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong and serves as the front entrance to the Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City was built from 1406 to 1420 and served as the seat of ruling dynasties. Today, the World Heritage Site is home to the Palace Museum.

Chairman Mao on Tian'anmen Gate

Hall of Supreme Harmony in Forbidden City

Gilded Lion

Don’t forget the Temple of Heaven.

Temple of Heaven

Detail

Communist leaders seem to like to preserve themselves for display after their death (or their followers do despite their wishes) and Chairman Mao is no exception. But just like in Hanoi, I was thwarted with short open hours and missed my chance, but I did get a nice red alarm clock with the Chairman waving his hand as the seconds click away.

I was able to couch surf a few days with a great host originally from Spain. Very nice flat and he and his friends are into just the kind of work I’d like to do with artistic projects using new media.

Hiking the Great Wall tomorrow!

The warriors are arranged in three pits, the largest with 6,000 figures and horses in various stages of restoration. This area is the cradle of Chinese civilization and the county probably gets its name from one of the ruling dynasties here, of which 11 are said to have been based including the first emperor of unified China whom left the warriors as a testament. I’m having one sent home to guard the yard from gnomes.

Terracotta Warriors

The crowds are overwhelming sometimes. Here’s the train station leaving Xi’an:

Also spotted in Xi’an:

First Noodle Under the Sun

To Beijing!

In Chengdu I had just enough time to make it to the world famous Panda reserve. Saw lots of pandas gnawing on bamboo, an array of baby’s from very young on up (including some twins), and my favorites the red pandas. For different prices you can hold and touch different ages of pandas, though I abstained. Very cool place.

Panda Reserve in Chengdu

Red Panda, But Not a Communist

Lijiang

I had to spend a night in Lijiang, my birthday evening, and tried to find a decent place to have a couple of drinks. I found the nightlife contained to a picturesque strip straddling a small canal. The only venues were these strange Chinese pseudo-discos blaring very loud techno style music with people dressed traditionally singing and dancing. The revelers were in large groups with nary a foreigner to be found (not that that’s important, but still the chances of any English were slim). I didn’t feel up to such nonsense, just wanted a few beers somewhere nice, so went home disappointed. Oh well, better nights ahead I’m sure!

I kept seeing signs for some mysterious “half-way” location. Every local I passed, when troubled, would point up the trail and say, “half-way.” What or where in God’s name is this? Several guesthouses incorporate the words and innumerable signs letter the trails. I think its some kind of scheme to keep you moving.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

Half-way to...?